


Caring for a Cold

by nepenthe_writer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, Iron Dad, M/M, Sickfic, spider son
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:13:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27604016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nepenthe_writer/pseuds/nepenthe_writer
Summary: Tony's not used to taking care of someone when they are sick so when Peter arrives to stay the weekend and has a cold, Tony knows just who to call for help.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	Caring for a Cold

Tony’s eyes were drawn inexorably to the clock on the wall as his fingers drummed repetitively on the desk. Normally his R&D meetings were the highlight of his week at SI. There was nothing more enjoyable than getting to poke around in the minds of the people hired specifically for their ability to think creatively and help usher technology further into the future. This week however Tony was counting down the minutes until the meeting was over and he could head back up to his penthouse for the weekend.

May Parker was away at a conference for the weekend and while Peter was more than old enough to stay home alone, his aunt hadn't trusted him to stay out of trouble without someone watching after him. Peter had shyly asked Tony if he wouldn't mind if Peter stayed with him for the weekend and with May’s approval, Tony had agreed. Now the genius was looking forward to the workday being over so that he could spend the next two days sciencing with his favorite protégé.

By the time the meeting was called to a close, Tony was up and out of his seat in under a minute and into the elevator that would take him up to the penthouse. Tony knew that Peter’s school let out before his own meeting would so the kid would beat him up to the penthouse and so Tony couldn't help but tap his foot as the elevator seemed to take him forever to get up there.

By the time the elevator doors were opening and letting Tony out into his living room he was more than ready to find Peter so they could order some dinner and get their science on. Instead of the teenager waiting right by the elevator just as eagerly for a chance to play in Tony’s state of the art lab, Peter was nowhere to be seen. Tony’s brows furrowed in confusion. It was very unlike the teenager to not be waiting to share with Tony anything interesting that had happened to him since the last time that they had been together.

“Friday,” Tony called out to his AI, looking around the room as though Peter might pop out of hiding at any moment. “Did Peter show up after school? Did he head down to the lab without me?”

“Negative Boss,” Friday's voice sounded. “Peter arrived at 3:17 this afternoon. He is currently sleeping on the couch right now.”

That caught Tony off guard even more than not seeing Peter immediately after getting off the elevator. In all the time that he had known the teenager Tony had always found Peter to have more energy than anyone else that he had ever known. It wasn’t like Peter to sleep the afternoon away; especially when he had an entire weekend of uninterrupted science with Tony to look forward to.

Coming around to the front of the couch Tony found Peter curled up in a tight ball fast asleep just as Friday had said. Tony's frown melted away into a fond smile as he took in the innocent face of his young protégé. Reaching out Tony brushed back a lock of hair to get a better look at Peter’s face.

Tony’s frown returned when his fingers came away damp with sweat from Peter’s brow. The temperature of the room was quite comfortable and Peter wasn't covered in any blankets. There was no reason for Peter to be as overheated as he was. A trace of unease traveled down Tony's spine and he gently took hold of Peter's shoulder to shake the young man awake.

“Peter,” Tony murmured. “Peter, it's time to wake up now.”

Peter moaned in his sleep and curled further into the couch. Tony shook him again and this time Peter cracked one eye open to look up at him.

“Mr. Stark?” Peter croaked, his voice hoarse not only with sleep but with illness as well.

“Peter. How long have you been sick? Why didn't you say anything to me?” Tony asked, taking a seat on the coffee table in front of the couch.

Now that Peter was sitting upright Tony reached out and placed his palm more firmly against Peter’s forehead making the young man whine and lean into the cool touch. Tony clucked his tongue in concern at the heat radiating from the boy. Tony had never been in charge of caring for someone else while they were sick, he barely took acceptable care of himself when he was sick. Despite that Tony was still sure that Peter was running a higher fever than was considered normal.

“I'm okay Mr. Stark,” Peter insisted even as he swayed in his seat. “It's just a small cold. I was just resting while I was waiting for you. Let's head down to the lab. I've got some new ideas for my web shooters.”

Peter tried to get up from the couch but was immediately pushed back down into the cushions.

“I don't think so there Spider-boy,” Tony disagreed. “We can have some dinner if you're hungry but then you are going to bed. Sciencing while sick is a bad idea. Trust me, I've tried and it never turns out good in the end.”

“But Mr. Stark,” Peter started to protest but Tony didn’t give him the chance to continue.

“But nothing kid. I’m not taking the chance of you getting hurt because you were too out of it to science safely. Lets get some food into you and then off to bed with you,” Tony said as he guided Peter into the kitchen and had him sit down at one of the bar stools.

Peter groaned and blinked his eyes trying to keep them open. “‘M not tired Mr. Stark.”

Tony, with his back turned to Peter as he dug through one of the cabinets, rolled his eyes though he was certain Peter wasn’t with it enough to have noticed even if he had been facing him.

“Sure you’re not. That’s why you were sleeping on the couch when I came up here. Who are you trying to fool kid? You can barely keep your eyes open now.”

Grabbed hold of a can of chicken noodle soup, Tony poured it into a bowl and then put it in the microwave to heat up for a few minutes. True he wasn’t the best cook but right now didn’t require cooking. It was hard to screw up chicken noodle soup and the biggest thing was just getting Peter to eat some of it before bundling him off to bed.

The microwave beeped and soon the bowl was placed in front of Peter with a spoon sticking out of the side and steam wafting off of it. Peter blinked at the food for a minute before picking up the spoon and taking a few bites. Tony watched with eagle eyes to make sure that Peter was eating and that he didn’t look like he was about to bring the food back up again. He had very little experience taking care of someone that was sick and he was extremely afraid of somehow messing it up and making Peter even worse off then he was right now.

With Peter doing okay eating on his own, Tony stepped out of the room enough for some privacy though still made sure he could keep an eye on his charge. Taking out his phone Tony dialed the one person he was certain would have the experience that he needed and could help him out here.

“Come on. Pick up,” Tony muttered to himself as he listened to the phone ringing in his ear. The ceasing of the ringing and the sound of breathing on the other end of the line were some of the best things that Tony had heard in a while.

“Hey Tony,” Clint’s voice came through the speaker. “It's been a while man. How's it going?”

Tony let out a sigh of relief hearing Clint’s voice. “Not too good actually. Peter’s spending the weekend here while his aunt is out of town. He’s sick though and I don’t know what to do to help him. You have kids. You must know what to do when they get sick. Help me out here.”

“Sick how?” Clint asked, voice hard as he focused in on the problem at hand. “What are the symptoms that he’s showing?”

“He’s hot to the touch and sweating a lot. When I got home he was curled up on the couch sleeping and it’s only early evening. That’s not like him,” Tony rattled off without missing a beat. He wasn’t about to hold anything back when it came to Peter’s health and wellbeing. “He’s eating some soup right now but he seems very groggy and out of it.”

There was a pause from the other end of the phone line as Clint waited for more information. When it was clear that there was nothing else coming Clint prompted further. “Okay, and what else? So far it sounds like a cold to me.”

“What else? Isn’t that enough?” Tony snapped. “He’s sick. You’re a dad. You have kids who must have gotten sick before. What do I do now? Do I call a doctor? Do I need to take him to the emergency room? The traffic isn’t great and that might take too long. Should I get the suit and carry him there? Come on Clint. Help me out here.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down there Tony,” Clint said, trying to calm his friend down over the phone. “From what you’ve described it just sounds like he has a simple cold. The best thing for Peter is to get some rest. Make sure that he stays hydrated. Get him to finish the soup if you can but keep it light and don’t force him if he says he has to stop. He’ll be just fine Tony.”

Tony was pacing back and forth across the room as he listened to what his friend had to say with rapt attention. “What if you’re wrong though? What if it’s more than just a cold? What if he’s really sick and I do nothing and he gets even worse?”

There was a pause and when Clint spoke again there was a clear smile in his voice. “I doubt that it’s worse than that but if I’m wrong then I’m still not worried. He’s got you there to take care of him and from the sound of it he couldn’t be in any better hands.”

Tony was about ready to pull out his hair at this point. His kid was sick and the only other person he knew that had experience with sick kids wasn’t worried nearly enough in Tony’s opinion.

“It’s all going to be okay Tony,” Clint said as though being able to hear Tony’s inner turmoil. “I know how scary it is when your kid gets sick and there’s nothing that you can do about it. You feel helpless, especially when you’re used to being able to fight off the bad guys. There is no bad guy to fight in this case and that just makes everything even more difficult. Just keep doing what you’re doing though and make sure that you’re there for him. That’s the biggest thing he’s going to need right now. Just you being there. And no science time down in your lab. Science and colds don’t mix.”

That got a faint chuckle out of Tony. “Yeah. He and I have already had that discussion. Science time has already been put on hold until I can’t cook an egg on his forehead anymore.”

“Then it sounds like you’ve got everything well in hand,” Clint praised. “Call me back if you have any other questions but it sounds like you’re doing everything just right so far.”

“Okay. Thank you Clint. I really mean it. I appreciate all of your help,” Tony said, sincerity clear in his voice.

“No problem man. You know I’m always here for you,” Clint said before they each said their goodbyes and hung up the phone.

Going back over to the counter where Peter was sitting, Tony sat down on the chair next to him and set his hand against Peter’s head once more as though trying to gauge the fever by touch alone. He wasn’t good at this. He’d never had to take care of someone who was sick before and he was scared that he was going to mess it up. Peter was counting on him and all Tony had as an example was Jarvis taking care of him when he was a child but that was so long ago. Things had changed since then and he just wanted what was best for Peter. He just hoped that Clint was right and that he could handle this.

Peter hummed and tipped his head further against Tony’s hand enjoying the cooler touch on his overheated skin. The bowl of soup was empty and Peter seemed to be half asleep again leaning against his mentor. The small sign of implicit trust had Tony’s heart melting and a small smile gracing his lips.

“All right kiddo. Why don’t we go get you in bed now? Clint says rest and hydrate and I think together we can manage that,” Tony said as he shifted to help Peter sit up so he could get the teen to the guest room where he would be staying so he would be more comfortable.

“But science,” Peter moaned even as he followed Tony’s lead and began to shuffle down the hallway.

Tony chuckled at the display. “No, no science until your forehead doesn’t feel like a furnace anymore and you can keep your eyes open for more then four seconds at a time.”

Peter stuck his tongue out at Tony but didn’t fight him as they entered the guest bedroom and Peter flopped down on the bed making grabby hands at the pillow.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. I’m going to go and get you a glass of water and then I’ll be right back,” Tony said.

Peter just hummed as Tony walked back out of the room and hurried to the kitchen. A glass of ice water was easy to get. The harder thing would be figuring out what if any medications Peter could take to help fight off the fever that he had that would work with his mutated biology. Tony mentally added calling Bruce to his list of things to do. The other scientist would be able to help with that after having taken scans of each of the Avengers so that he would be ready to treat any of them if they were hurt out in the field. Even not being that kind of doctor, Bruce wasn’t about to leave their health up to anyone else without having some say and Tony was going to take full advantage of that.

For tonight he thought it best to just leave things as they were. Peter didn’t seem to be in any immediate danger despite how warm he felt and Tony would hate to wake him up from what rest he could manage. Setting the glass of water down on the bedside table Tony gently brushed the hair back out of Peter’s sleeping face before leaving the room. Friday would let him know if anything changed with Peter during the night and if the boy needed him.

Heading back out into the living room, Tony made himself comfortable on the couch and picked up a Stark Pad to work on. Logically he knew that Peter was fine enough for him to go to bed himself but that didn’t stop the part of him that needed to be awake and ready to help the boy if he woke up during the night and needed something. It wouldn’t be the first time that Tony had pulled an all nighter and this was most definitely a worthy reason to do so. Setting into the couch more comfortably, Tony got himself prepared to spend the night awake, ready to do whatever it took to get Peter healthy again. For the boy Tony would never give anything less than his very best.


End file.
